NEXT PURPLE - Neptunia series - 1/7 Vertex - REVIEW

Hello MFC!
Today we shall be taking a look at quite possibly the most complex and elaborate figure to ever grace my current collection. The powered up “Next Purple” From “Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II, also known as Megadimension Neptunia VII depending what country you are from. While I have not played this particular iteration in the series, I have played some of the previous titles from the Neptunia video game franchise.

“Next Purple” is basically the ultimate powered up transformation of “Purple heart”, or also known as “Neptune” which is her human form name. For consistency within the review ill refer to her as “Next Purple”. This figure is in a massive 1/7 scale and produced by lesser known figure company Vertex. I often see Vertex cop a lot of slack for their quality; this is my first Vertex figure so I will be reviewing this with no prior knowledge or experience with previous Vertex products.

I have been patiently waiting for the “perfect” figure of Purple Heart to come out and I was very excited to have this as “the one”. Vertex has “Black heart” also in the works to be revealed at a further date so I am glad that one day I can have the two NEXT forms displayed together!

I will give a heads up now, this is one insane figure and possibly the most daunting review I have conducted in terms of content, there is a lot to cover so I apologize for its length.
This figure basically comes with 2 different display options;
1. Next purple standalone
2. Next purple Armour mode
in this review I will be covering both modes and the intense and complex construction process to achieve both versions of the figure.

So without further ado, let’s boot up the review and dive in!

[WARNING - THIS IS AN IMAGE HEAVY AND CONTENT HEAVY REVIEW]

– BOX –
Let’s begin by taking a look at the monstrosity that is the box. Usually when I receive my packages from AMIAMI they like to pack almost 70% of the box with padding making it unnecessarily large and empty. But to my surprise; my gigantic AMIAMI package was not gigantic for no reason…it really did contain one massive figure box. The box is so large it barley fits on my little “reviewing cube”!

The box is large as it is impressive to look at – the artwork and graphics featured on the front truly capture the essence and atmosphere that is Hyperdimension Neptunia! Baring a very strong technical purple colour scheme and an aesthetically pleasing crescent moon viewing window to take a peek at the insane amount of contents inside!
I admire the graphic design that went into this box art, it keeps a solid colour scheme throughout and while there is a lot going on – it still maintains a solid design and shows just enough information for the viewer. Love that blue strip down the bottom with the character’s name – really stands out!

The side of the box offers a close up image of the figure while the back illustrates the feature of the two different ways to display the figure – with and without armour.

– THE BLISTER –
Once you have opened the box you are greeted with an equally as large blister containing a massive assortment of parts. Rather than laying everything out to see, we will take a look at each part as it becomes necessary; cause let me tell you there are A LOT of different parts.
The most important thing is that the blister is very solid and does a great job and carefully housing all the different parts. The Blister is actually made up of 2 different ones. The main one at the front and another one attached to the back that holds most of the larger pieces (such as the wings).

– THE BASE –
Before we begin the construction process, let’s have a look at the base where all the action will be taking place. For this shot I have rested the base upwards so you can see awesome translucent light purple design on the base – as it doesn’t show up against a dark surface. This is important to note if you will be displaying her on a solid wood shelf with a dark colour – the base truly shines on a brighter coloured surface, or glass shelves of course!

I absolutely love the base, it’s functional and visually looks great! Keeping the colours to a darker purple is a solid idea as it helps draw your focus to the main figure which is made up of different shades of purple – beautiful contrast. The circular circuit board design ties in to the series really well.

In the bottom left of the base you can see the central “peg “that will hold Purple heart in both of her forms.

– THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS –
Now this is where things start to get both equally exciting and complicated. Purple heart is quite the complicated figure in terms of design – in order for all these aspects to not only work but stay safely secure to the figure; Vertex have taken the route of using “Steel rods” to hold the figure in place.
But, depending on which mode you intend to display, different steel rods and even different foot pegs are used to hold the figure in place.

In order to know which rod is used for which, they have been labelled 1 – 5 in terms of length, 1 for the shortest and 5 for the longest. Each rod has its own purpose and it never used for any other aspect – but not each rod is used at one given time depending on the version you are displaying.

So first up we will be taking a look at how to construct the “standard” standalone figure. This involves Purple Heart on her own with no accessories/no Armour, just how she comes straight from the blister. As I go through the construction process I will be labeling which rods you will need, as it can get a bit confusing as time goes on. So let’s begin with the first version!

– THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS – PURPLE HEART FORM 1 – NO ARMOUR
In order to display Purple Heart as she is without all her Armour, we first need to make some adjustments to the base peg. When Purple Heart is in her completed “NEXT PURPLE” form, she has these impressive pieces of leg Armour. Because of this leg Armour it obviously elevates her legs making her much taller and changing the shape of her “feet”. The standard version does not have this elevation, and thus, her feet do not match the current peg on the base.

So the first step is to take rod number 2 and insert it into the back socket of the current base peg. Make sure the rod is pushed down as far as it can go – it may take some force as the metal sliding into the plastic can be quite tight first up, because these rods are designed to carry a massive amount of weight don’t be afraid to apply force. Once the rod is securely in place, we need to get the “base peg extender” and slide it over the top of the current base peg.

Once you have done this it should look like the second image, with the “Base peg extender” completely covering the original base peg and having roughly 4cm’s of the steel rod sticking out of the top. The next step is to grab Purple Heart and insert the rod into the socket located in the base of the foot of the extended leg. You’ll want to make sure that the little bump in the base peg extender sits securely in-between the heel of her shoe and the base of her foot.

–PURPLE HEART FORM 1 – NO ARMOUR – COMPLETED FIGURE
After that process is completed, Purple Heart should be locked in and ready to go. I chose to photograph this form first as it gives us a chance to appreciate Purple Heart as she is before she goes full “NEXT PURPLE”. And once she does there are so many crazy details to look at; so this gives us the chance to just admire her and the amazing amount of work gone into her body sculpt alone.

So here she is – The gorgeous Purple Heart. There are just so many things I love about this figure. The pose is elegant and ever so beautiful; it does a fantastic job in showing off Purple Hearts amazing body sculpt and curves! Having her elevated so high off the base gives off the effect that she is floating around in space – amazing!!

This shot really helps illustrate the incredible angle that she is on. Knowing that she is secured using steel rods is incredibly reassuring. This will reduce the chance of warping and bending over time! And I certainly would not want to see such a beautiful angle crumble over time.

Even from the back she looks amazing! Look at the way her hair weaves in and out and all around – such amazing sculpt work!

Another shot from the side showing off her pose.

Now let’s take a good close up of all the wonderful aspects that make up Purple Heart. First off, her face. Vertex have done a fantastic job capturing her facial expression – her eyes are absolutely hypnotizing with a beautiful shade of blue and a really unique star/cross design in the center. The open mouth is really cute and really defines the character perfectly! I also really like the way her head is slightly tilted to the side – gives off a “SHAFT” vibe wouldn’t you say?

Out of all the aspects of the figure – this honestly has to be my most beloved part. The body sculpt on Purple Heart is absolutely gorgeous; really nice curves and a great body shape. But what compliments this body sculpt so well is the body suit design. Covered in a skin tight smooth black suit with these incredible neon blue highlights. But what is the biggest stand out of this design is the absolutely AMAZING translucent purple running down the center. I have never seen this effect achieved so excellently on a figure before. The texture feels exactly as it looks and to achieve that look and effect on a figure is just astounding. It has a really nice shine effect on it and contrasts beautifully with the blue and black. You can even see her belly button underneath! Amazing!!

I was really blown away by this level of detail, after hearing so many negative things about Vertex, I honestly cannot see the fuss. The paintwork is absolutely flawless, not a single line or scuff mark in sight. Possibly the smoothest and most solid paint job I have seen in a figure of this detail. Totally get your money’s worth here. Other things to take note of is the little Neptunia logo in the center and the really cool interlayered Armour around her neck!

One thing I know some users might be concerned about is Purple Hearts Breasts – Yes –there is no doubt that this isn’t a normal “accurate” display of gravity. But that’s exactly it; this figure defies the laws of gravity simply because the figure IS in zero gravity. Along with the fact the skin tight suit is possibly providing incredible support (very amazing support) really helps in dismissing any inaccuracies about her body. This figures design and pose is based off of an original illustration and her breasts are exactly the same in that too – so it’s not only a stylistic choice but also how the original character design is. Personally it does not bother me at all as I think she is absolutely stunning and I appreciate absolutely any effort gone into preserving a figure of a character based on original artwork. Vertex – you have done a smashing job!

Taking a look at the back of Purple Heart – her amazing suit design carries over to the back and also features that amazing translucent purple design! I also love the little curvature Armour pieces locked onto her waist – nice touch!
In this shot you can also see that there are a few “chrome silver” highlights scattered here and there to break up the coloured pieces of the suit. This metallic aspect really drives the whole “Technological” based world that Purple Heart is from. Purple Heart has also been gifted with a beautifully curved booty and the suit does an excellent job in highlighting this particular aspect of the figure.

What I love about this figure is just how dynamic she is. She looks incredible from every angle which really goes to show the tremendous amount of effort gone into capturing every piece of detail and angle of Purple Heart. In this shot we can get a good look at how amazing her hair looks! It starts off using solid plastic and eventually fades into a semi translucent material at the tips! The slight light blue highlights are also a really nice touch, great use of tone and shading on the hair!
I will admit though that while Purple Heart her self is really solid, the longer parts of her hair are quite fragile – which is to be expected from such long sculpts of thin hair. Because of this just make sure you are careful not to bump the hair to avoid any snapping.

I honestly cannot get over of how amazing the paint job is on this figure. The blue highlights on the body suit have this sparkle to it that changes its gradient on certain angles! Sometimes having a pink/purple highlight to it! Because of the way the suit is designed the seamlines are practically flawless which helps cover up the idea that they are made up of separate parts at all!
In this shot we can get a good look at the nifty little hair accessories in her hair – very reminiscent of a video game controller D pad! This is because all the characters from the Hyperdimension Neptunia series are all designed to represent different Video game Consoles! Purple Heart herself is meant to be a personification of the cancelled “Sega Neptune” console, the successor to the Sega Dreamcast.

Vertex have done a fantastic job on Purple Heart – and to know that she holds up completely as a standalone figure without all her armour is really impressive. If this was all the figure is I would have been equally as impressed. Amazing body sculpt, perfect paint job, amazing details and a great pose! But it’s about to get better – time for Purple heart to undergo her transformation to full power – “NEXT PURPLE” fully armoured mode.

– THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS – PURPLE HEART FORM 2 – ALL ARMOUR
Now that we have admired Purple Heart in all her standard essence, it’s time to begin the very lengthy construction process of her amour. Before we begin, first thing you will need to do is reset everything back to square 1. Purple Heart needs to come off the “Base peg extender, the extender needs to be removed and steel rod number 2 needs to be pulled out of its socket.

As I previously mentioned, in Purple Hearts armour mode she has an impressive set of mecha legs, these act as the new “ Base peg extender” instead of the black one – which is why it needs to be removed before we can attach the new legs to the base.
So let’s take a look at the legs on their own. In order to get things started we are going to need:
.Steels rods number 3 and 1.
.Left and Right Mecha legs.

These things look absolutely insane – the level of detail in them go far beyond any type of Gunpla model kit. Such impressive sculpting to create really nice striking curves and angles!
But before we slide these Armour pieces onto Purple Hearts legs, first we need to open them up!
About mid-way on the mecha leg designs you will see a light blue/pink “Visor” looking piece, it almost looks like a clear cock pit window – if you gentle grab the visor piece and pull up you will see that the mecha legs are made up of two different pieces. This is so we can attach the Armour to Purple Heart and encase the pieces completely around her legs solidly and securely.

Once you have opened both of them up you will discover that there are actually two different attachment systems on the inside. One will have a peg while the other will have a socket. Be sure to identify which is which before attempting to attach the Armour on as I guarantee you will quickly find it is not going to work with the wrong piece!

First up we will attach the leg Armour piece that contains the “Peg” connector. This Armour piece will plug into the base of the foot that has the leg bent back. Make sure the back of the heel is locked securely in the little groove at the back and apply a little bit of force so that the peg is no longer visible from the sides. The sole of her foot should be completely solid flat against the elevated black section around the peg. Once the Armour is secure, re-attach the upper section we removed earlier and the Armour should be successfully attached to her bent leg encasing it entirely!

Here is where things get a little bit tricky. Before we connect the other leg Armour to Purple Hearts extended leg, we need to “lock” the Armour piece into the base – essentially becoming the new “Base peg extender”.
In order to do this we are going to need to take Rod 3 and insert it into the back socket, while Rod number 1 will be inserted into the front socket of the base. Just like with the previous mode, make sure you apply enough force to put the steel rods in as far as they go. To not only ensure the figure is locked into place securely but to also to make sure there are no gaps in-between all the parts once they are connected.

Once the rods are in place you will need to get the leg Armour with the socket and slide the Armour down rod number 3 and plugging the heel of the Armour into rod number 1.
Once the Armour is securely locked into the base, rod number 3 should be extending out of the Armour by about 4cm’s or so. With this rod sticking out the top, this is used for Purple Hearts foot to lock into now. Taking the leg that is extended out, connect her foot the same way as with the previous leg Armour – making sure the heel is locked into the back and that the sole of her foot is completely flat along the elevated black section around the peg.

Once she is secure, reattach the top visor part of the leg Armour and this step is complete!

Here is how Purple Heart should look once the Mecha legs have been completely attached and what a massive difference it instantly makes! The Armour looks incredible, they have a real nice shine to them making them look like they are made from metal! The smooth black of her body suit is an excellent contrast against the purple Armour, making it easier to define which parts are which. You can see now that she has the Armour on she is still the same height as she was before!

A detailed shot of the leg Armour from the back. I absolutely love all the details on the sole of the Armour. All these little jets and vents and an array of complicated line work and colours. Another beautiful paint job with not a single piece of paint out of line.

The sides here we can see the Armour actually have these really nice clear translucent blue pieces! Similar to the blue line work on Purple Hearts body suit, they have this shimmer to it that creates the illusion of a blue to pink gradient. There are even mechanical details underneath the clear parts too – so cool!

Another Nifty little feature is that this spikey heel section can actually bend up and down! It is meant to be displayed pointing upwards but that doesn’t stop you from bending it down creating the illusion of movement! I think this is a really nice feature to add to something that is clearly already quite complicated and detailed!

Next up we have Purple Hearts impressive head gear! These cool pieces of Armour replace the “D pad “styled hair clips that are in her hair! You can see that the D pad clips are still present on the underside of these crazy pointy pieces of Armour – but the original ones need to be removed first in order for these to be plugged in.

To remove the hair clips, simply grab the hair clips on each slide and slowly wiggle them out! They should come out without any problems. Once they are out you will notice the sockets are a “D” shape and not just a standard circle. This is so the new head gear can only be placed in one certain way, with the pointy ends facing upwards.
Align the new head gear with the D shapes pegs on the bottom of the Armour and place them in the open sockets!
If you are struggling to either take out the D pad hair clips or attach the new head gear – one thing to note is that you can actually remove Purple Hearts head! This isn’t shown in the instructions but her head is connected to her neck using a peg. So with a slight wiggle you should be able to pop her head off, which might give you a bit of an easier time trying to attach the new Armour without toppling the whole figure over.

This is how Purple Heart should look once the head gear is locked into place. At first I was not too keen on these as I thought they were a bit much – and I really liked the simplicity of the D pad hair clips. But these pieces of head gear really match well when all the Armour pieces have been put on.

Seeing them from above like this really shines fourth their true potential. I love the shape and the smooth edges. Much like the sides of the Mecha legs – the head pieces also have these amazing large translucent blue sections in the middle. If you look carefully enough you can see these “speaker” like structures underneath the canopy’s. The energy rings that are sprouting from underneath the Armour is also a really nice detail.

From this angle you can get a better idea of how all the different layers are made up to create the head gear. The D pads first, then the energy rings and finally the Armour. This shot isn’t too flattering as it makes it look like the Armour pieces are sticking out a bit too far from her head. They look pretty fantastic from any other angle though!

The next step involves attaching these “Energy rings” around Purple Hearts wrists. They don’t look like much now, but once they are attached they are given a lot more context and stand out a lot more. They pieces are fairly thing and have some light detailing on them to simulate that “ Floating data “ aesthetic that the art on the box tries to replicate! Most important thing to note is that there is not one designated for the left and right wrist – the one on the right seems to have a slightly stronger tinge of blue to it, so I ended up using this one to be placed on her right wrist as it is closer to the viewer.

This process is fairly simple, with little to no effort, you should be able to pop off her hands revealing a peg. Grab any of the energy rings and place it over the peg. There isn’t much holding the energy ring in place as it is, so be careful that it does not fall. Hold on to the energy ring and then place the detached hand back over the peg locking the energy ring and the hand back in place over the wrist -

When completed, it should look something like this;
It is a pretty cool effect and as a lot more dynamic to the figure helping to illustrate that “zero gravity” like atmosphere to the figure.

Once you have done this to one wrist, simply do the same with the other!

and it should look like so:

And last but not least – the grand finally of completing the fully armoured version of NEXT PURPLE – the hyper drive energy wings. These are by far the biggest highlight of the figure. It truly is hard to capture its size in photos alone, cause thing is just massive and incredibly impressive to look at on its own.
Attaching the wings can be a little tricky, so lets go through the process. First of all you are going to need Steel rods number 5 and 4. After using these two rods, the only steel rod you should be left with is steel rod Number 2, which is the one we used to attach Purple Heart to the base her Armour.

Once you have the rods, place Steel rod number 4 in the smaller socket closer to the edge of the base. While steel rod number 5 goes into the larger socket adjacent from socket number 4. Similar to the rest of the rods, make sure you take care in appling enough pressure to ensure the rods are pushed down as far as they can go so they are sturdy and locked in place. Once the rods are locked in, grab the hyper drive energy wings and spin it around till you find the wing piece that contains 2 sockets. You’ll want to position the wings so that the “pointy ends” of the wings are facing away from Purple Heart.
Align the sockets with the steel rods and very gentle push down on an angle (Use the below picture for reference).
If you apply pressure on the wings horizontally, they will not go down very far as the wings are designed to rest of an angle. If it makes it easier, align the sockets with the holes and try to connect Steel rod number 4 in first and then push down onto steel rod number 5.
It make take a little bit of time till it locks into place, you may need to move Purple heart around a bit as well in order for the “center” of the wings to sit in the right place just behind her lower back.

– PURPLE HEART FORM 2 – ALL ARMOUR – THE COMPLETED FIGURE
It’s taken 4485 words and an incredibly complex construction process, but we have finally arrived at the grand finale – Purple heart in her completed Armour mode – NEXT PURPLE.
I have to admit, the construction process of adding the Armour on really makes you appreciate every little aspect of this figure, especially once the hyper drive energy wings are attached. They are absolutely insane and add so much character and atmosphere to the figure. Each blade on the wings are all so carefully sculpted and painted with the same amount of care as the rest of the figure – all held together with 2 beautiful complimenting clear blue energy rings – it helps bring all of those blue highlights together against Purple Hearts strong “Purple” colour scheme.

The way the energy wings kind of surround the upper half of Purple heart is absolutely stunning from the angle

This shot helps to illustrate just how large the wings are and how far they stick out from behind her. Such an impressive display piece! At first I thought I would be bothered by the steel rods, but there is just so much amazing detail and colour going on my eyes are never drawn to it. I cannot think of any other way they could have been held together so securely either cause they really are just massive!

Here’s a shot from the back showing all the amazing details on the inside of the wings

The detailing is very similar to the underside of Purple Hearts mecha legs – each wing blade has an intricate replicated design of smooth lines, little booster circles and an assortment of brightly coloured rings holding it all together. I also absolutely love the “Plus” designed featured in the center of the wings – really nice detail there!

– CONCLUSION -
Purple Heart is just truly one of the most gorgeous and colourful figures I have ever laid my eyes on. Her pose is just so dynamic and Vertex have done a stunning job in capturing everything amazing that makes up not only Purple Heart as a character but the entire Neptunia franchise.

The sculpt work is phenomenal and made truly apparent by a very impressive paint job. Using a few different materials to simulate different textures and colours in such creative and colourful ways! There is not a single line out of place and not a single piece of colour out of tone – simply stunning!

Given the option to display her in two different modes is also an added bonus, adding even more dynamic into the different ways she can be displayed. I cannot be more impressed with this figure and I am very proud to have her in my collection. Vertax have also announced a 1/7 scale figure of Black heart in her ultimate form – “NEXT BLACK “, hopefully we will see more from this announcement over the coming months as having the two girls side by side will be truly astounding!

– BONUS -
Another quick thing to note before we wrap up – Included with my copy of the figure was a pre-order bonus thanks to the people over at AMIAMI, a “NEXT PURPLE” Tapestry! The Artwork featured on the Tapestry is exactly what the figure is based on and it looks beautiful! You can see they replicated every bit of detail and colour perfectly! A nice bright and colourful piece of art to add to your walls!

Thank you all so much for sticking this far and making it to the end of my review! This has been by far the most challenging figure I have covered and I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support for my reviews and content on the site.
I hope you have enjoyed this review and found it helpful! If you have any questions or would like to request any photos or different aspects I didn’t capture; I’ll do my best to help out! If anyone has any requests on ANY of the items I own I would be more than happy to review them also :)
Thank you so much for your time,
Take care
- Ry

Оценка10/10

Lyncfs (5 месяцев назад) #29347002Thank so much for your detailed review and pictures! I would have been completely in tears, if it wasn't for your tutorial as I assembled her. One of my absolute favorites!

Hello Lyncfs!
I am glad my review ended up being helpful to you during your assembly process! It is certainly a challenge in order to get her together properly, took me twice as long documenting it as i went along haha.
She's by far one of my favorites too! enjoy!

victorviper (8 месяцев назад) #25844049Wow, that is one nice body sculpt.
I'm always a little wary, however, of figures that require lots and lots of assembly. Assembling them isn't too bad, but I have a handful of such figures that I would dread the prospect of ever having to disassemble and reassemble; ITEM #42448 is a perfect example.

Hello and thanks for the comment!
This is one element that i have to agree on. While the construction process is very solid, the idea of taking her apart and storing her back up for a move is a nightmare thought. Almost a year ago i moved houses and had to transport over 400 figures and while i kept the boxes for all of them, during the deconstruction process/reconstruction process i had some unfortunate casualties. While the steel rods to ensure that there wont be any "snapping" of pegs, shes certainly stuck on them rather right and removing her will be difficult. I hope the day does not come haha

Mine has a sculpting defect on the hair (can't see it from the front, but top-down it's blatantly apparent). Would be 10/10 if not for that. I'm wondering if I could get a replacement head piece but don't think Vertex has a way for English customers to contact them...

Об этом блоге

Hello!
My name is Ry and i have been collecting for roughly 15 years. In this blog i try to review figures, Artbooks, merchandise, DVD's + CD's - Anything Anime or Video game related!

Animation is my biggest passion, it inspires me and has shaped who i am today. Art is a form in which you can communicate a feeling, emotion, a thought or concept through visuals, movement and music like no other. Being able to connect with those idea's is something i find truly special and drives my motivation in collecting!